Wyeth warns shareholders on mini-tender offer

US drug major Wyeth say that it has been notified of an unsolicited mini-tender offer made by TRC Capital Corp, a private Canadian investment company, offering to purchase from Wyeth stockholders up to 2,000,000 shares, or approximately 0.15%, of the firm's outstanding common stock. The offer price of $47.00 per share represents a 3.45% discount to the $48.68 closing price for Wyeth stock on the New York Stock Exchange on November 21, 2006, the day before the date of the offer.

Wyeth stated that it does not recommend or endorse this unsolicited offer, and is not affiliated with TRC, the offer or the offer to purchase. It explained that Wyeth is one of many companies that TRC has targeted for a mini-tender. These offers seek less than 5% of a company's stock and avoid many disclosure and procedural requirements under US federal securities laws.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an investor alert regarding mini-tender offers on its web site, saying that these "have been increasingly used to catch investors off guard," and that investors "may end up selling their securities at below-market prices."